The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) board is getting a lesson in governance from Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.).
Perturbed by the unelected board’s practice of letting members continue to serve after their terms had expired, Wolf pushed through legislation last month that prohibits the practice. The measure also increases the size of the board from 13 to 17. Virginia got two new appointments while Maryland and the District of Columbia each got one additional board member.
Amazingly, the board’s chairman, Charles Snelling, is resisting the changes and informed Wolf in a letter that the board has hired outside counsel, which advised the board that it was not necessarily bound by all of the law’s provisions until Virginia, Maryland and D.C. change their laws to match the new federal measure. Wolf wrote back to Snelling, basically advising him to get on board.
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| Rep. Frank Wolf |
As this article illustrates, anyone can hire a lawyer to take the position one wants to take. That said, it is loathsome--and stupid--that the MWAA Board (or some over-paid legal stooge) believes it can challenge the authority of Congress, which created MWAA in the first place. In the end, MWAA will lose, but this MWAA Board position undercuts any pretense that MWAA, a public entity, is working in the public's interest.
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